external hard drive compatible with Vista Home Basic SP 1?

Thanks to you and others for your replies. Most of the crashes seem to be generated by hardware and software installations. The latest seems to have been triggered when I plugged in the printer after the new hard disk install. It apparently generated this message:

"The machine-default permission settings do not grant Local Activation permission for the COM Server application with CLSID
{9BA05972-F6A8-11CF-A442-00A0C90A8F39}
to the user cyndi-PC\Julia SID (S-1-5-21-2425830596-2639703389-3024646887-1001) from address LocalHost (Using LRPC). This security permission can be modified using the Component Services administrative tool."

Afterwards I found an updated driver for this HP 1020 printer and that seems to have fixed the problem for now. I also downloaded a program that searches for the latest drivers for my hardware and programs.

Initially I turned off Windows automatic updates, which a Dell tech support person said, in the first round of failures, could create problems by downloading fixes that were first iteration -- wait til a better one comes along, I was told. Prior to hard drive replacement, the system got to the point where it simply would fail to boot. Would get instructions to press 'ctrl-alt-del' and nothing would happen. I tried anti-virus programs and those did not help. fyi I have McAfee

After the hard drive replacement, I forgot to turn off the auto updates and we had a crash a day later. I don't know if it had to do with the updates, but I uninstalled three that seemed most problematic and that seemed to fix things for the time being. Until the quoted error above.

As for Dell -- individual reps are helpful to a point, but in general I do not find the Dell support machinery to be helpful. Attempts at making a supervisor or manager aware run into brick walls of 'we cannot do that' or 'you must do this first.' We tried to return the entire pc after the first set of incidents, but Dell denied the return based on god knows what. After two more sets of incidents, Dell said I had a hard drive failure and sent someone out to replace the hard drive. Dell seems to have a policy of requiring X number of incidents before they take anything seriously. I can continue to call Dell now, but I was hoping for an easy work around such as an external hard drive with a different OS, since I do believe the problem to be Vista. I never had any such problems with XP. But what do I know. This is my daughter's pc, we got it for xmas to upgrade the old one, and that makes the frustration much greater ...

thanks for any further suggestions.

I also own a Dell 518 and have been having VERY similar issues, though I have 64 bit Vista and a different processor. I have been wrestling with Dell Techs and this (9 month old) machine crashing, not starting (even in safe-mode), and giving me blue error screens or blank black screens at start up. My most recent reinstall seems to be pretty stable so far, but I fear the inevitable. Have you found the cause of/solution to your problem yet since you posted last?

here are my specs:
Dell Inspiron 518
Windows Vista Home Premium 64 bit
Intel Core 2 Quad CPU Q8300, 2.5 GHz
6 gigs of ram

here is my situation:
It all began with blue error screens at startup after updating Vista, and it was unable to start even in safe mode. The first reinstall I did, the Dell Tech told me to "delete" my hard drive partition, and I was able to reinstall vista successfully. Unfortunately, I was soon unable to start it after a few hours of crashing and blank, black screens at startup, again without being able to start in safe-mode. Before i was able to reinstall, however, I would insert the Vista disc and it would not detect a hard drive and thus installation was impossible, but after a few tries restarting, it eventually detected the hard drive again (magically? W the F?) and I was able to try reinstalling once again. The second time I installed it i "formatted" the partition, successfully reinstalled vista, and since the last reinstall it has yet to crash, but I fear that it will happen again.

I am assuming the "cause" of the first crash was Windows update, (begging the question is this a Vista issue?! Did Microsoft make Vista updates crash computers so people would update to Windows 7?) "Causes" of the crashes after the initial one seem to have occurred when Google Chrome was trying to load an advertisement on a website, and when i woke my computer up from "sleep" mode. I have since turned off "sleep" mode, and automatic updates. I am still running with SP1.

Dell Techs have yet to install a new hard drive on this machine but it seems, based on your experiences, this issue may not be hard drive related...? If you have had any luck with this issue, found a solution or was actually helped by a Dell Tech, please reply to this thread. Thanks!!

First, it is great that you and others offer your help - much appreciated.

Second, I gave more details in my reply to J. Greystone. But I forgot to ask - what would indicate a motherboard problem? Are there specific error events or warnings, or is it a process of elimination, or what? When I go back to Dell, I want to be able to hold them to something specific.

Thanks again.